Saturday, August 30, 2008

My PAX story

After work I rode the bus up to Pine and 1st and then walked to the Convention Center to meet Jer. I finally accomplished that on the 4th floor at Registration, where I bought my 1 day pass to PAX (Penny Arcade Expo). Once I explained that I didn't need a 3-day pass, no matter how much money I'd save, the woman took my $30 and wasn't all that helpful. She neglected to give me the goodie bag or a program, but I got them anyway. So there, unhelpful woman, I defeat you.

If you didn't know, PAX is a big nerd thing. Like, I don't know, 30,000 people big. I didn't arrive until 5:15pm (doors opened at 2pm), but that's okay because there were technically things to do until 3am. We only made it until 12:45am though. Video games mostly. Web comics. Rock Band.

At first we entered the line for the Penny Arcade Q&A, but frankly I am not a fan of the types of questions that are generally asked at these things. We went 2 years ago to their talk instead of just Q&A and it was good, so I already have that memory and I'd rather hear from the guys themselves, so I found a panel about writing for games and went to that instead. But first! I walked through the exhibition hall where they had all the crazy booths for games and people playing and the lights flashing and, apparently, if you are a female you are expected to be in costume or have funny colored hair. I came from work, so I wore jeans but a nice blouse. So... yeah, I didn't really fit in. I mean, I didn't even have tall boots or a t-shirt with witty sayings, what was I thinking?

But hey! Then I remembered, I don't care!

I found one of the last seats at the writing panel and that was interesting. The panel was excellent (comprised of adventure game writing heroes even) and the audience questions were mostly not cringe-worthy. However. People. I know you are living up to the whole nerd ideal and I GET that, but maybe you could've showered for the occasion? Or changed your t-shirt? For an hour I was sitting in a cloud of boy funk, and that's not pretty. And then having to stare at the backs of two pale people who were very proud to be boyfriend and girlfriend, pretty much sitting in each other's laps. Playing with the loose strands from each others braids. That paired with the smell was... distracting. The guy directly behind the two kept stabbing himself in the neck with his pen.

Then I met up with Jer again and we were starving so we ended up at Mexico: The Restaurant (not the country). We sat immediately at the bar, ordered dinner, and headed back to PAX. For the record, I love being over 21.

Next we got in line for a video game design workshop. Good thing we did; it was packed. Another interesting panel with good information. Hardly any time for questions, so yay for no cringing. Also, I really would've liked to have heard more from the last speaker but time ran out.

I was flagging then, but Jer rallied the troops! Er, led me to the next thing. We went to the Walrus Theatre to watch Dorkness Rising. It was hilarious. We sat on the carpet from 10:30pm to midnight and it was a fun group to see it with because we all got the humor. If you've ever gotten caught up in a role-playing (especially one that requires the rolling of dice and character sheets) then you'd enjoy it too. That's right, I am telling you how you should feel.

On the way back down the escalator we stopped in one last room... to watch Rock Band 2 competitions. It was a huge room with loud speakers, a big screen, and a lot of excited people. I don't play the game myself because I'm terribly uncoordinated, but it looked like fun. We watched for a while, bopped around a bit, then left close to 1am. The "party" was still going strong.

Then we walked to Seattle Center to get the car. The end.

PAX goes through today and tomorrow at the Seattle convention center. If you're an aspiring, or full-fledged nerd, you might consider attending. I can't see how you'd be disappointed.